I also found this in the archives:
Re: [AZORES-Genealogy] Naming of Expostos
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Re: [AZORES-Genealogy] Naming of Expostos
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John Miranda Raposo
On Sunday, October 6, 2019, 10:32:34 AM EDT, 'Susan Murphy' via Azores
Genealogy <[email protected]> wrote:
Thank you very much John! I think I read this years ago but itWas very good to
read again and I will file in a place for safe keeping!
Susan Vargas Murphy
On Oct 6, 2019, at 6:22 AM, 'John Raposo' via Azores Genealogy
<[email protected]> wrote:
Here is the work on expostos by Eloise Cadinha. Some years ago she shared it
with me and she also gave me permission to share it. It has been published on
this list before. I know because I get e-mails from people who have found it
and either want more information, want to express their surprise at how awful
this situation was, and to express their appreciation for Eloise's hard work
and erudition on this subject.
You will not find very much on this subject. Until recent times it was taboo
just as slavery in the Azores is and as Jewish roots used to be. Times change,
and what might have been an uncomfortable discussion 50 years ago is now open
for discussion. I am waiting for some serious research on slavery in the Azores.
What follows is the work done by Eloise for whom I have much admiration and to
whom I owe much for her sharing erudition.:
Most of us as weresearch our ancestors will find an expostoor two. It is
indeed miraculous that they were able to survive toadulthood, to marry and to
have children.
Expostos - a translation : A very sad situation.
EloiseCadinha
(The following is my poor translation/distillation of part of an articlewritten
by Henrique Bras (1884-) in Boletimde Instituto Histórico da Ilha Terceira,
1947.)
In the last threecenturies there is a long list of filhosda igreja (children of
the church), also known at times in baptismalrecords in the parish registers of
Terceira, as children of unknown fathers andmothers (filho(a) de pais
incógnitos),who were often baptized with the most noble or notable or the very
rich peopleof Terceira serving as godparents. In more recent times the number
ofchildren secretly abandoned at the rodas(wheels) had greatly increased,
despite the many recently born innocents whodied when abandoned, and the few
for whom the fear of discovery, still did notkeep them from being strangled
before seeing the light of day. Providingsupport for these children who
survived became one of the most difficultproblems for the various city halls on
the island, demanding a new specialtax...which the people agreed was needed but
not without grumbling and findingfault with the new tax.
On April 29, 1800, theConde de Almada, Captain General of the Azores in Angra,
informed an officialof the Royal Court that in the last ten years the Cathedral
had annually registeredthe baptism of an average of 97 expostosand also
registered an average of 83 who had died! And this number wasonly of those
engeitados (abandonedones) who had arrived at the Cathedral to be baptized,
those that had been leftin the Casa da Roda, and this numberwas only for Angra.
The city councilcontinued without resources to provide for these children and
thought aboutcreating a lottery for that purpose.
It needs to be said:with a population of about 10 to 12 thousand people, there
were yearly on anaverage 97 newborn abandoned children of unknown parents,
legally registeredand of which 83 of these died -- naturally by affectionate
handling, shelteredand well wrapped care.
[Translator’s note: theauthor mentions Carlota, a weaver of Angels, from the
famous novel by Eça de Queiroz. I asked a cousin ifhe knew of this novel, O
Crime do PadreAmaro, and he said that he had read it long ago, and it was
about awoman who got rid of unwanted infants. She killed them by wrapping them
upand drowning them in the river. She was referred to as something like
the"maker of angels," (tecedeirade anjos) the idea being that she was creating
angels by killing the babies.]
On October 20, 1782, thevicar of the diocese of Angra, Dr. João Vieira de
Bettencourt, commissioned therector of the Cathedral, Pedro da Cãmara Merens,
to organize a separate book toregister the baptisms and deaths of these
abandoned children.
In the year of 1783there were registered 120 baptisms and 81 deaths of expostos:
In 1784, 94 baptisms, 73 deaths;
In 1785, 97 baptisms, 86 deaths;
In 1786, 94 baptisms, 105 deaths;
In 1787, 86 baptisms, 100 deaths;
In 1788, 100 baptisms;
In 1789, 95 baptisms.
There were no deaths recorded for the years 1788 and 1789 but resumed again
thefollowing year. One can see that in 10 years the births and deaths of
thefoundlings was astounding.
Painful emotions squeezethe soul when one looks through the pages, tiny
tragedies sown through this separatebook of the Cathedral. The records
indicate the names of the amas (wet-nurses) nominated by city hallfor each
exposto. They weresingle women, 'loose' women, married women and widows.
In the Casa da Roda...in the city of Angra,there was the rodeiro (the man
incharge of the wheel) who had at least one assistant, in order to rescue
quicklyany of the new guests secretly left at the door in the silence of the
night.The newborn was left there, shivering in the cold until the door
providentiallywas opened. It was rare to announce a visit to the Roda, for
fear of the discovery of the mother’s identity which wasof great importance to
the municipality, in order to avoid the expense ofproviding a wet-nurse for the
child -- and so that justice alsointervened.
Sometimes a little onewas carried there by a caring person saying he had found
the abandoned child insome hidden place. Thus on 16 September 1782, Francisco
da Silveira,gravedigger of São Pedro, Biscoitos, arrived at the Roda with a
bundle. It was a baby girl who had been placed atthe door of the home of the
sexton of the church. She was soon baptized andgiven the name Delfina. This
man delivered this baby to the Roda knowing that she would not cost thefinder
any money for finding the child. He also presumed that she would becared for,
but this child died and her death was not recorded in the churchregister.
The Casa da Roda was next to the residence of the pai dos engeitados
(thefather, i.e. guardian, of the abandoned ones) who was a councilman in
thesenate of the city hall, and who had the municipal duty to care for the
expostos, and also the responsibilityfor the place elected by the municipality
for the receiving of these abandonedones.
This councilman had amost distressful mission. The city did not have money for
the number ofabandoned children, growing larger each year, and for the prompt
payment of thewet-nurses, and for this and for other reasons, the milk from
these women wasnot sufficient to fulfill the need for these babies.
The expostos arrived at the Casa da Rodaand there they waited two to fifteen
days for a wet-nurse. The priestnoted the baptism of the children in the
register: baptized in the Casa da Roda, with the name ofFrancisco, found very
young and had not been given a wet-nurse and he lasted afew days; Jose,
baptized in the Casa daRoda, died without a wet-nurse; Manuel after being
baptized died in the Casa da Roda.
One particularly unhappyexposto to whom the godfather, Cosmede Mascarenhas, the
bell ringer of the Cathedral (this man throughout the yearsbecame godfather to
nearly all the newly baptized expostos), gave the name Abraão (Abraham), and
none of thewet-nurses wished to care for him the priest wrote in the record of
baptism (20March 1783, p19, book number 1). The bell ringer had discovered
that the newly born child was Jewish and had given him asuitable name. These
wet-nurses ... they refused to nurse thisnewborn heretic. Sixteen days
passed, with Abraham suffering and in pain,until he finally died.
These death records notethe approximate age of the child. These unfortunate
children saidfarewell to their miserable existence between three days and
threemonths. Few of the expostosreached the age of 1 year and very few beyond
one year.
The author does not knowif the position of the city official in charge of the
wet-nurses was lucrative-- but it was truly an industry. The wet-nurses
naturally came from thepoorest sections of the city and outlying areas, but it
was the city thatprovided most of the wet-nurses. At times it was not enough
and the cityhad to go to the peasants in villages such as Sao Bartolomeu and
SantaBarbara. It was an industry that had wet-nurses who could kill off
thesecharges with hideous rapidity. The wet-nurses received three expostos
each year, one following theother after the death of the one before.
[The author listed threewet-nurses and the infants received. One of them in
1785 had 5expostos. Inacio, April 5; Marilia, May 17; Violante, July 22;
Antonio,Aug 20; Mateus, Sept 21.]
This separate book ofthe expostos from the Cathedral madeit easy to study
them. In previous times it was extremely difficult to learnabout them because
there were no statistics. But whoever turns the firstpages of this register of
the Cathedral rarely turns two pages.
There were many reasonswhy children were abandoned by their mothers and
fathers. Some of the reasonsbeing: an illegitimate child, extreme poverty and
too many mouths tofeed, perhaps the death of the father, or just simply an
unwanted child.
One can research thesmaller villages and not find a single expostoin the
baptism records.. At least this has been my experience. Inthe larger towns
and villages many expostosare found, certainly many abandoned from the smaller
villages. In years offamine more children were left as foundlings. These
abandoned children wereleft at churches, convents, and at the doors of many
homes.
Many children were leftat convents. In many of the convents through Europe
there was what wascalled the Roda, or the Wheel whichin antuality was in the
form of a cylinder. It was a wheel that couldspin from the outside of the
building to the inside. Goods or otherarticles for the convent were left on
the wheel, and usually there was somekind of a bell to let the nuns know that
something had been left on thewheel. In time, desperate mothers and fathers
left their children on thewheel.
In reading some of the exposto baptism records in certainvillages, the priest
notes to which mother in the village the child wasgiven. The child had to have
a nursing mother, and usually one can checkback and find that nursing mother in
the record. And sometimes the priestnoted where the child had been found.
When an exposto (male) married he already had asurname or perhaps was given
one at the time of the marriage. I wish I knewmore about this. As for surnames
of the exposto, they run the gamut from Azevedo to Xavier. Asfor the exposta
(female) I don’tthink she was ever given a surname, or at least I can’t
remember seeing one onher marriage record or on the baptism records of her
children.
Many parents whenabandoning their children believed it would only be for a
certain period oftime. When the child was left at the convent or at church or
at thedoorstep some clues were left so that the parents could later claim
theirchild. Notes sometimes were left with the name of the child, or perhaps
acertain type of clothing, some colored ribbons or an embroidered blanket.
These were the clues and apparently the church did keep a record of these
identifyingclues.
The following comes froma baptism record on Sao Miguel in 1861. A copy of the
record was given tome by a fellow researcher. It touched her heart as she read
it; it also touchedmine.
A baby girl had beenleft at the home of a proprietor. The lady of the house
with her servant tookthe child to the public roda of theVila. The child was
number 312.
The baby was dressed ina cotton white shirt, a rose colored dress, with two
ribbons, one white and theother yellow.
In all the baptisms of expostos that I have seen as Iresearched I never saw
anything such as this. I have often wonderedwhat happened to this baby.
There was no notation in the margin. The babymust have come from a family of
means.
Eloise Cadinha
______________________________
The abandoned child brought forth a new statute, that of the Exposto and, with
the foundling emergedthe Roda or foundling hospital. In the 16th century the
protection of the foundlings was handed over to themunicipal councils and then
to the charity hospitals as soon as they werefounded.
Eventually, the children were abandoned at the "Roda dos Expostos” (nextto
convents) which reached their peak of operation at the end of the 18thcentury.
"The foundling turn box was a revolving mechanism situated vertically atthe
main doors of the convents where the children are place andabandoned. Roda was
the namewhich was commonly given to the institution which took the foundling
intocustody. D. Maria I recognized it officially in a proclamation on 24
May1783. She decided that in all cities and villages in the reign thereshould
be a "Casa de Roda," situated in a discreet location, so thosewho gave up the
children could do it without risk of being recognized." (Source: Translated by
L. Polsky from Atlântico Revista de Temas Culturais No.20Winter 1989).
In practical terms, Ithink that the convents were therefore set up to receive
these expostos better than smaller churches.The women having unwanted babies in
the other parishes would arrange forsomeone to take the newborn and put them on
the "roda" which is a wheel that spins from outside to inside a convent.The
wheel spins between a wall so you spin the wheel and what is outside theconvent
is now inside it and thus these babies enter the convent. My descriptionis
based on what those records say and what I've heard from others. So I mightbe a
bit off in accuracy, but that's the general thing.
I just found a betterexample of the Roda. The revolvingdoor of an Hotel in
which the floor would also go with it. The differences is thatthe revolving
door is divided in FOUR parts and the Roda only in TWO and about80 cms high.
Another interestingthing I now recall:.
The mothers or fatherswhen abandoning a children did have their reasons.
Unwanted pregnancy, an illegitimatechild, lack of resources to feed the child
and so on. (How many Portuguesesoldiers and sailor died during the Portuguese
age of discoveries leaving theirfamilies without resources of any kind?
Portugal at that time had somewhere between2 and 3 million inhabitants and at
one given time half of the known world wasunder the Portuguese flag. It has
been a tremendous effort and so no wonder the importance of the abandoned
children andthe Kingdom’s protection of them. The strain went to the point that
a sayingstated that ALL Portuguese homes had something in common: either a
Sailor, aWidow or a Priest !)
Some abandoned theirchildren believing that the abandonment was temporary,
until conditionsimproved, or for whatever reason they thought they could come
and claim thechild sometime later. So it was a custom to leave something to
identify thechild, a medal, a ribbon and sometimes a note saying the first name
of thechild.
The Institutionsreceiving the Expostos keptthose identifying materials to
identified the children and to give them back toits family. Most of them never
came for them so, the Institutions kept theidentifying material.
The Santa Casa da Misericordia de Lisboa is one of those Institutions and,by
far, has the biggest known collection of those identifying objects and
messages,some centuries old, lovingly guarded in books and boxes, a pungent
collectionof souvenirs of unwanted children, orwanted children but abandoned
for lack of whatever reason, that well deserves beingseen.
(Luis,C. L. Porto /Portugal)
On Saturday, October 5, 2019, 8:37:09 PM EDT, Cheri Mello
<[email protected]> wrote:
We know historically that the rodas were to be used for offerings to the
church and that the abandoned babies were left there.
What about today? Do they use the rodas still for offerings? What does a woman
or young girl do if she cannot provide for her baby today?
Cheri Mello
Listowner, Azores-Gen
Researching: São Miguel island: Vila Franca, Ponta Garca, Ribeira Quente,
Ribeira das Tainhas, Achada
On Thu, Oct 3, 2019 at 3:53 PM Rosemarie Capodicci <[email protected]> wrote:
Well, I just looked for it and didn't find it so I guess it never was there! I
could have sworn that it was on the site but I guess not.
Rosemarie [email protected] Sao Jorge, Terceira, Graciosa, Faial and
Pico, Azores,Isola delle Femmine, Sant' Elia, Sicily
On Thu, Oct 3, 2019 at 10:03 AM Cheri Mello <[email protected]> wrote:
Rosemarie, where? I can't find it. Where did you see it?
I've emailed Eloise asking her permission to have the article posted on the
Azores GenWeb (unless it's already there - as I said, I can't find it.)
Cheri Mello
Listowner, Azores-Gen
Researching: São Miguel island: Vila Franca, Ponta Garca, Ribeira Quente,
Ribeira das Tainhas, Achada
On Thu, Oct 3, 2019 at 7:58 AM Rosemarie Capodicci <[email protected]> wrote:
I think that Eloise's article is on the AzoresGenWeb site here:
http://www.worldgenweb.org/azrwgw/ go and check it out. Rosemarie
[email protected] Sao Jorge, Terceira, Graciosa, Faial and Pico,
Azores,Isola delle Femmine, Sant' Elia, Sicily
On Wed, Oct 2, 2019 at 10:10 PM JesseAndDeborah Mendonca
<[email protected]> wrote:
Hi Linda,
I found your cousin Eloise’s work cited as a source on a search, but never
found the actual articles she wrote. If you have copies, may we have access to
them? Will Eloise give us permission?
Cheri will know if it’s acceptable or not to use her article on this site. I
can help make them into a link if you need help. My email is below.
Thank you!
Debbiejessdebmendonca at gmail. Com
On Wed, Oct 2, 2019 at 4:01 PM Linda Jardin <[email protected]>
wrote:
Eloise Cadinha is my cousin. I have spoken with her regarding this subject as
we have an exposta whom was left at the Matriz Sao Sebastiao. She has written
articles regarding the abandonment of babies. Some of these may still be
available on the internet. I do have copies if anyone is interested. I also
have direct contact with Eloise. She is a lovely lady and sharp as a tack!
From: 'John Raposo' via Azores Genealogy <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, October 2, 2019 2:13 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [AZORES-Genealogy] Expostos left at the roda of the churches
The towns and cities had Foundling homes, usually convents, but not all
churches in the cities and towns were foundling homes. In the villages, as can
be seen in baptismal records, the foundlings were left either at somebody's
door or in a place where they would likely be found. Eloise Cadinha studied
this situation extensively and I have her notes.
John Miranda Raposo
On Wednesday, October 2, 2019, 3:35:49 PM EDT, Cheri Mello
<[email protected]> wrote:
I seem to remember Joao Ventura, the archivist, stating that many babies were
given up at the Matriz churches more so than the smaller parish church. The
information is on the Azores GenWeb (I'm pretty sure). I'll look when I get
home.
Cheri Mello
Listowner, Azores-Gen
Researching: São Miguel island: Vila Franca, Ponta Garca, Ribeira Quente,
Ribeira das Tainhas, Achada
On Wed, Oct 2, 2019 at 12:32 PM Maria Sousa <[email protected]> wrote:
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I know this question comes up often and I am familiar with the "roda" and the
"oxpostos". My question is, did every church have the "roda" system or was it
just certain churches? Maybe even each frequesia had a "matrix" church which
had the roda? Does anyone happen to know?
It was very heartbreaking looking for my ancestor in Sao Sebastiao Church in
Ponta Delegada and the amount of expostos that I read was astounding. So much
so that each exposto was given a number. My ancestor happened to be a number
in the 600s. I noticed the number on her marriage certificate and then was
able to match the same number to her birth certificate. Still a deadend for
me, but so heartbreaking to think of the hundreds of people who were going to
this church to hand over a child. I can't image what was going on in the 1860
to 1890 in that area, that so many were just giving up their children.
Would love to hear your thoughts.
Maria Sousa
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